Tuesday, 3 May 2011

May 3rd 2011

The wind dropped in the night for a couple of hours becoming fresher by the morning but thankfully not as strong as yesterday and still north easterly though occasionally moving to the east which probably accounted for today’s TERN FEST.Bob and I arrived at 9:40am and counted 17 Black and 20 Common Tern present but in the next hour we had so many flocks coming and going or feeding high it was hard to keep up but we estimated at least 180 Black and 80 Common Terns went through with 30 Black and 38 Common Tern still around at 10:40 when we left. Also 5 Little Gull with them but the only other birds of note were 2 Yellow Wagtail, 200 Swift and Common Sandpiper. This was my third highest day count of Black Tern since I started watching the pond in 1976 and the most I have had since 114 in September 2006 and surprisingly the second highest count I’ve had for Common Tern since 120 in 1994.Green Hairstreak by Bob Hazell

We then went looking for butterflies managing 25 Dingy Skipper, 10 Grizzled Skipper, and 10 Green Hairstreak plus 6 Cinnabar, Treble Bar and a possible Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet before ending the day at Napton Reservoir where we managed 2 Hobby hunting insects high over reservoir, 2 Yellow Wagtail, Cetties, Reed, Sedge and Grasshopper Warbler plus Lesser Whitethroat and Common Sandpiper . We also enjoyed the shoal of Perch in shallow water showing well, Common Blue and our first White-legged Damselfly of the year. Unfortunately Bob slipped and pull a tendon in the back of his leg so ending up hobbling and grimacing something rotten. Did offer to rip his pants off and give him a good rub down with nettles but the wimp declined muttering my Attila Nightingale medical skills were questionable.